Auto industry expert labels McAuliffe electric car ‘preposterous’

Now facing federal investigations, questions about its financial plan and production delays, GreenTech and its owner, gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, are on their way to producing awful automobiles.

NOW WHAT: GreenTech Automotive Chairman Terry McAuliffe is running for governor while hawking an electric “MyCar.”

And a month ago, automobile industry bible Car and Driversaid the company’s golf cart-sized MyCar, one of the two it plans to produce in partnership with a Chinese company, “isn’t a real car.”

GreenTech refers to both models as “neighborhood electric vehicles” with top speeds of 35 mph, according to specifications posted on GreenTech’s website.

GreenTech says its sedan can travel 186 miles on a single charge from its 19 kilowatt battery. Rizzoni, who has been to the factory in China and has twice test-driven the sedan, said, “This number is totally preposterous.”

“Look at the (electric) Nissan Leaf,” Rizzoni said. “Their battery pack is more than 20kw and they don’t have the nerve to claim 186 miles. Theirs is 75 miles.”

Giorgio Rizzoni

The smaller MyCar, even with a larger, 23kw battery, has a range of just 95 miles, according to GreenTech’s website.

Rizzoni said he doubts GreenTech can afford to sell the MyCar at its original target price of $10,000 when the 23kw battery alone costs $12,000. Or even fit a battery of that size in a car of that size.

After looking at the website, Rizzoni said he wondered where GreenTech will find a market for a sedan that won’t go faster than 35 mph.

“What I see here is a (GreenTech) website that has been put together by people who don’t have any clue of what they are talking about,” Rizzoni said.